Stanton Doane Wicks

Horses, livestock and changing farms

A history of Windham County in northeastern Connecticut published in 1917 describes Stanton Doane Wicks buying two farms with a combined area of about 240 acres. His stock included Percheron horses and Berkshire hogs. The account catches him early in a working life that continued to revolve around breeding animals and managing land.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 4, 1892, Stanton was a son of Frederick Stanton Wicks and Lily Moulton Doane. His schooling included Hamet Lodge in Pomfret, Connecticut, and Hackley in Tarrytown, New York. He attended Connecticut's agricultural college with the class of 1914 but did not graduate. On June 28, 1913 he married Gladys Noyes in Pomfret.

His experience with livestock became relevant to military service. The obituary preserved in the family collection reports that during the First World War he was responsible for some 5,000 horses and mules at Camp Upton on Long Island, New York.

A June 1919 newspaper item describes plans to work with horses and cattle in southeastern New Mexico, near Texas. The later obituary reports that he did work as a ranch superintendent in New Mexico. Read together, the accounts distinguish an announced plan from the later report that he pursued ranching there.

He subsequently operated a farm of about one hundred acres on Onondaga Hill, near Syracuse in central New York, raising Hereford cattle. The obituary also describes consulting work for other farms.

Stanton died in February 1937 while in Raton, New Mexico. The obituary places him there on business.

The county history calls the Percheron and Berkshire stock registered, and the 1919 newspaper identifies the Connecticut property he planned to leave as Doane Hall farm.

The burial listing places Stanton Doane Wicks at Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York, United States.